Dear Reader,
Now that you’ve read this book, I want to tell you that I, Blair Babylon, am not of Indian descent nor am I from India. However, my in-laws are Ayer Brahmins from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, which is in the southern part of India.
I am stating right here, up front, that none of the characters in this book are based on my in-laws. My in-laws are sweet as heck to me. When I’m deep in writing, I go upstairs and write all morning, and when I come down for lunch, my mother-in-law has cooked me a hot, fresh lunch every day. She also brings me good jewelry from India, the really nice stuff. She and I are both first-born girls, and we can talk to each other about stuff that other people don’t get. My father-in-law is just a big, sweet puppy. They have been very kind to me for many years.
Some of their friends, however, should heed the warning that you shouldn’t say stuff around writers if you don’t want it to end up in a book.
While none of the characters in this book are based on real people, a lot of the rather shocking conversations have happened right in front of me, and many of the situations that I have described are commonplace among friends of ours. I’ve seen situations just like Andy’s. Indeed, I know of one happening as this book was being written, though the circumstances are very different. Like Tolstoy said, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
I love Indian culture and the deep sense of bonding and belonging within families and in the community, and there is a wide diversity in how traditional or liberal each family and each sub-community is.
I think, however, that some people in every culture use traditions and customs to abuse and wield power over others.
I’ve written about several cultures where this happens in my other books. Breaking away from one’s past and leaving the damaging parts behind is a common theme in my writing. If I can say anything in my writing, I would like to say that we should take every opportunity to be kind to each other and to love one another rather than seizing the chance to shame each other, or to hate other people, or to hurt the people we should love the most.
And speaking of culture clashes, Raji and Peyton seem to be canoodling on that couch, there. Their story is up next, in a fun holiday novel, Santa, Baby.
Keep reading!
Love,
Blair